Connecting 12 drives would definitely be my 3-4 year future proof option, so I think the 16 or 24 port cards would be overkill. Although, the 16 port is not that much more, about $100 but thats $100 that will need to go to the drives. And honestly the 8 port may even be an option because the external enclosure could always hook up to a basic eSATA card and not be apart of the RAID set up. I will only use the external for backup. But it would be smart to have the option to hook the external enclosure up to the card. But the cost is obviously better on the 8-port card. Its between the 8-port and 12-port.
Ah, OK. You'd be better off keeping the backup separate from the RAID card as a means of saving money. An eSATA card + eSATA PM enclosure + consumer grade disks (i.e. Greens are great for backup, fast enough, and cheapest cost/GB out there) will be sufficient, and a hell of a lot cheaper.
Example kit (card + enclosure + cable). This one works well in the MP (a few others use it or it's larger sibling).
In terms of the card, the additional $100 is worth it, as you can move it from system to system without having to replace it as quickly due to out-growing it. Saves money in the long term. But this applies to any card of sufficient size for your needs. By getting backup off of the RAID card, you won't need a 16 port version.
Please understand, I'm not sure what you mean by eSATA... Do you mean a 1: (1 disk to 1 port)?
Or do you mean a Port Multiplier enclosure (1 port, up to 5x disks on it; so an 8 or 10 bay PM box will have 2x eSATA ports on the back)? See the PM kit I linked to see what this actually is.
There are eSATA enclosures with 1:1 (4 bay box with 4x eSATA ports on the back), but they're getting harder to find, aren't faster, or cheaper than the MiniSAS boxes (they used to be, but MiniSAS versions have increased in number, so the prices have fallen = what everyone uses). Better connectors too, which makes a difference (remember, this stuff needs to be reliable so the latches keep you from accidentally yanking the cable out of the back and have better signal integrity vs. eSATA for RAID).
Trust me, there were valid reasons for abandoning eSATA (just needed to get MiniSAS's costs down due to increased economy of scale).
My options for an 8-port card are ...
ARC-1880LP-8 or the
ARC-1880i-8 The LP has two external connections and the other looks like it has one, so both could hook up to the external enclosure you posted via miniSAS.
The ARC-1880LP is the only one with an external MiniSAS connector on it (one port internal, one port external = hybrid, and can be very useful - tend to be expensive).
The second port you're seeing (only one on the ARC-1880i) are Ethernet ports (remote, email notification, and NTP access). All of the 1880 series have this one (so do their other most powerful cards, such as the 1680, or 12xxML's).
Now I'm wondering what you're disks are actually going to be, as you previously indicated there will be 8x disks internally. I presume this is still the case, as a pure SSD solution is insanely expensive due to the cost/GB.
But this also means that you'd need 8x internal ports, and have nothing to spare if you use either of the 8 port cards (internal only would be the right solution in this case).
So to get 8 ports used internally, and still have another 4x ports for growth (internal or external), I'd go with the ARC-1880ix-12 (12 port model).
The 12 port card would be the
ARC-1880ix-12. It also has two external connectors, what are both of those connectors for exactly?
Assuming you still intend on using 8x disks internally, this is the best card to get (4x SSD + 4x HDD's internally, and still have 4 ports internally or externally for growth).
I LOVE the 4 bay backplane enclosure, freaking awesome, and affordable! The internal miniSAS fanout cable plugs into the card and the other end has four SATA/SAS connectors that will connect to each SSD. Then I only need the SATA Male to Molex Male cable, which will power all four drives! And you said the miniSAS fanout cable comes with the Areca card so the only thing I'd need to buy is the enclosure and the power cable!
Exactly.
Some Questions...
1. One of the four SSD's that will go in the 4 bay backplane enclosure is going to be my boot drive, the other three will probably be in a RAID 0. That wont be an issue will it?
If the OS is OS X only, then No problems.
You will need to flash the card with the EBC firmware though, before it will work (need that to make it bootable in the MP).
Where you could run into a problem, is with Windows. It would need to be attached to the ICH in order to boot.
But this can be solved with cables (need some DIY skills, which aren't difficult).
You should be able to use a
SATA Data Extension cable (would require shaving the sides of both the power cable as well as the data SATA cable to allow both to fit the backplane connector in the empty optical bay. Some have done this successfully, though they said it was difficult (would need to find some with a thin profile).
Should be clean, and easy enough to do. Not sure how much plastic you'll need to shave though (not at all if you're lucky, but I wouldn't bet on it).
2. The 12 port appears to only have the one option. Which of those 8 port cards would be the better choice?
Not sure what you're getting at. It will do the job quite well, and is the best choice for leaving yourself some room to grow.
3. Just to be sure, either of the 8 port cards or the 12 port card will be able to connect to the external enclosure you posted via miniSAS, and I will be able to boot from the external enclosure if needed, right?
- ARC-1880LP = Yes for external enclosure, Yes on external boot (don't forget flash)
- ARC-1880i = No on external enclosure, so No on external boot (port = Ethernet, not SFF-8088)
- ARC-1880ix-12 = Yes and Yes.
SFF-8088 Female image (one that goes through the PCI bracket).
4. This may be a dumb question, but I don't see how 8 or 12 drives can connect to either of those cards? I'd expect to see 8 or 12 different connectors on the card that you plug the SATA or other cable into that then plugs into the drives. Although, I understand that the miniSAS cable plugs into the card, and then fans out to connect to four drives. So do the other four drives also use a cable that has one end that goes into the card and the other end fans out to four drives? The tech behind this stuff is hard for me to wrap my head around.
Yes. SFF-8087 = 4 ports on one cable. SFF-8088 does the same thing.
Internally, you use a fan-out cable to split it off if most of the time (there are servers that have backplanes internally, and uses a different cable). Externally, the signals are split inside the enclosure to the backplane board and goes to each drive.
So every one of those cable ends attached to the RAID card carries 4x ports simultaneously.
5. And I realized that I probably may never need the more advanced RAID solutions that a RAID card can provide (like RAID 5), so would a regular Host adapter card that can supply 8 or 12 drives be cheaper? Is the performance the same and would I be able to boot from it? I know you mentioned the ATTO one before but someone else mentioned that they had issues with booting with it. I'd prefer to stick with a reliable boot solution, which I assume is Areca.
The Arecas are the way to go ATM.
Of what you're asking about, ATTO is the only option right now (Areca makes these products too, but don't have 6.0Gb/s internals last I checked). The one's they have out I'm familiar with are 3.0Gb/s (1300 series non-RAID HBA).
6. If I were to get the 8 port card, and had 8 internal drives hooked up to it (4 SSD's, 4 HD's) I could still hook up the external enclosure to it just to do a nightly backup, right? I usually never use my computer when I have an external enclosure hooked up to it backing up my data, I set it up and walk out of my office. So the bandwidth being shared between the internal drives and external drives would not be an issue for that. Or would I absolutely need the 12 port if I wanted to hook up 12 drives. Its jsut that I'd rarely need to use all 12 drives at once, the 4 external drives would only be used for nightly backups once I turn in for the day.
Well, at least this answers the fact you're still going to run 4x SSD's + 4x HDD's.
If you do this, you'd only be able to use the ARC-1880LP.
However, the smart thing to do to save money, is use eSATA + PM enclosure as your backup hardware. Save a ton of money on consumer disks vs. enterprise (which you'd have to use on the RAID card).
As per a card, given you are trying to use 8x disks immediately, I'd recommend the ARC-1880ix-12. You'll thank me later. Trust me, as once you get RAID and large capacities going, you'll burn through it faster than you think. Seen this too many times.
You don't swap things around on a RAID card. Plug it all up, configure it, and leave it alone. It's not a consumer product, so please don't try to use it that way. You'll get burnt if you do (life happens, and sets could be lost, instability result due to poor contact on cables that have been inserted/removed too many times, ...).
Another note, do not try to use Safari to manage the card. The flash will never take, and leave you scratching your head as to why it won't boot. Use FireFox instead (works for management on the MP).
I think thats it, for now

Geez, you're going to have to send me a bill for all this valuable info you've been giving me
Wait 'till you see the bill .... Muhahahah
